Labour Must Deliver Real Change Say Students.

The upcoming budget is an opportunity for the Labour led
government to make good its promise to cut the cost to
students of tertiary education.

If Labour truly is
concerned about access to tertiary education and debt
incurred by students they must go further than they have
indicated, by lowering fees immediately and scrapping them
altogether as soon as possible. This is the message from
students who will picket tomorrow outside the Labour party
offices in Willis Street.

" The Labour party made a lot of
vague commitments before the election about making
education cheaper for students, and picked up a lot of votes
for that. Fees went up this year just the same as the last
ten, and Labour didn't do a thing," says VUWSA Campaign
Coordinator Joseph Kelly.

The students are also calling on
Labour to reinstate the emergency unemployment benefit
which used to be available to students who couldn't find
work during the holidays. Over summer holidays there are
three months when students rely on being able to find work
to pay for living costs and the next years fees.

"Students
are being actively discriminated against. We are still the
only group in society that is forced to borrow to live.
Reinstating the EUB is a small but important step towards
changing this" says VUWSA Campaigns Officer Nick
Henry.

The government is projecting a budget surplus, and
has increased taxes on cigarettes by $100m. Students hope
that some of this money is put towards easing the financial
pressures on students and tertiary institutions. "Its all a
question of priorities, for the cost of the unnecessary
Orion Sirius upgrade we could have had free education for a
year. The government has been very generous in increasing
funding to the arts community, we hope they will likewise
see the wisdom in investing in tertiary education." said Mr
Henry.

The Picket will follow a debate on "women in
tertiary education" between Labour's Diane Yates and women
from the Education Action Group. The debate will focus on
issues of access to tertiary education, in particular the
impact of the student loan scheme and user-pays policies on
women's participation.

"Women still take twice as long as
men to pay off their student loans. As long as students have
to pay fees and living costs by getting into debt, women
will be disadvantaged" said Yadana Saw, VUWSA Welfare Vice
President.

The debate will take place at 1:30 Wednesday
31st May in the Victoria University Quad. The group will
leave at approximately 2:30 to march to Labour HQ and
Marion Hobbs' electorate office on Willis St, arriving about
3pm.

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